You too can now learn all about 31st Century real estate and becoming a stinkin’ rich landlord by mastering the revolutionary Bender Pennybags technique! Just remember you won’t be a great as him…or as wealthy…or as sexy.

I readily admit I think the Monopoly franchise wore out its welcome years ago. Does anybody remember when it all began? The initial offerings (Elvis, your city) were amusing but the sports leagues must’ve been a thorny process; I know which NHL teams I would put in place of Baltic and Mediterranean Avenue. Lately, I saw a Klingon version. I’m guessing all the pieces with writing were in the fictional language.

Matt Groening’s creations (I have the Simpsons too) loan themselves to the game better though. The shows have neighborhoods, locations and characters who readily buy into get-rich-quick schemes! My favorite touches with Futurama:

• The game tokens, namely the PE Ship, a brain slug and…ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD!
• Chance and Community Chest cards are called Good News Everyone and Attention Puny Humans cards.
• The heads of Al Gore and Tricky Dick are on the $500 and $10 bills respectively. Too bad the game can’t be adapted to have a $300 bill for accuracy.

What makes the game more priceless for me is the anecdote it came with when I bought it. I bored the poor Dragon’s Lair clerk about being a member of the third-place team in the GWD Futurama tournament. Two of the people behind me were from the second-place team. D’oh! Wait, wrong show.